TY - JOUR
T1 - Are natural disasters in early childhood associated with mental health and substance use disorders as an adult?
AU - Maclean, Johanna Catherine
AU - Popovici, Ioana
AU - French, Michael
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - Understanding factors that influence risk for mental health and substance use disorders is critical to improve population health and reduce social costs imposed by these disorders. We examine the impact of experiencing a natural disaster-a serious fire, tornado, flood, earthquake, or hurricane-by age five on adult mental health and substance use disorders. The analysis uses data from the 2004 to 2005 National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions. The analysis sample includes 27,129 individuals ages 21-64 years. We also exploit information on parenting strategies to study how parents respond to natural disasters encountered by their children. We find that experiencing one or more of these natural disasters by age five increases the risk of mental health disorders in adulthood, particularly anxiety disorders, but not substance use disorders. Parents alter some, but not all, of their parenting strategies following a natural disaster experienced by their children. It is important to provide support, for example through counseling services and financial assistance, to families and children exposed to natural disasters to mitigate future mental health and substance use problems attributable to such exposure.
AB - Understanding factors that influence risk for mental health and substance use disorders is critical to improve population health and reduce social costs imposed by these disorders. We examine the impact of experiencing a natural disaster-a serious fire, tornado, flood, earthquake, or hurricane-by age five on adult mental health and substance use disorders. The analysis uses data from the 2004 to 2005 National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions. The analysis sample includes 27,129 individuals ages 21-64 years. We also exploit information on parenting strategies to study how parents respond to natural disasters encountered by their children. We find that experiencing one or more of these natural disasters by age five increases the risk of mental health disorders in adulthood, particularly anxiety disorders, but not substance use disorders. Parents alter some, but not all, of their parenting strategies following a natural disaster experienced by their children. It is important to provide support, for example through counseling services and financial assistance, to families and children exposed to natural disasters to mitigate future mental health and substance use problems attributable to such exposure.
KW - Early childhood
KW - Mental health
KW - Natural disasters
KW - Parenting strategies
KW - Substance use
KW - United States
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954338704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84954338704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.006
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 26789078
AN - SCOPUS:84954338704
VL - 151
SP - 78
EP - 91
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
SN - 0277-9536
ER -